Aaron Collins's Suspects Chapter 7
by Psychoflop
Summary: Holly goes a few rounds in the interrogation Room.


Chapter 7: Holly's first round

Damon Newall was sweating uncharacteristically in the makeshift interrogation room. Holly had a smirk on her face after staring at Damon for what must have been 10 minutes.

"Hiding something are we, top hat man?"

Damon sighed, seemingly giving in. "Ok, I will bite the bullet and confess: you got me."

Holly looked confused, "I did not think you would be so pliable as to confess to murdering your Magic: The Gathering rival."

Damon waved his arms in retraction, "No no no, I thought you were referring to my alibi where I was doing…quite a few other indecent things to one of the Russians."

Holly looked disgusted, "Oh god, you and Catherine…"

Damon interrupted, "No, guess again."

Holly changed her facial expression to look as non-judgmental as possible, "Well what you and Mr. Iskanov do to each other…"

Now it was Damon's turn to look grossed out, "The director? FUCK NO! Not that there is anything wrong with that…"

Holly shook her head in agreement, "No of course not. So you and Frau?"

Damon grinned and nodded like a little boy, "With Susan Rhodes videotaping."

Holly sat down, to better process this information. Damon on the other hand, pulled a mini blu-ray disc out of his coat pocket. "It all started at the dinner party. Charles, my CMK 'comrade' was chatting her up in a rather pathetic attempt to get into bed with her. She looked bored, so I stepped in and said 'On pytayetsya dat' vam yego gerpesa' which is simplified Russian for 'He is trying to give you his herpes'. Frau slapped Charles across the face and I got her out of there. On the way to the elevator, we ran into Susan who was trying to fix her new camcorder. I offered to do it in exchange for…filming our boinking. Go ahead and look it over"

Holly REALLY did not want to go over this, but it was something Aaron Langemann did not get in any of his interrogations, scientific evidence. She reluctantly stepped out to get a mini blu-ray player, returning 2 minutes later. She fast forwarded as much of it as he could, but due to a defective remote control she heard such "Gems" as "Give it to me, Dalek" and "Spank me with your Hockey stick". Damon continued grinning while reminding Holly, "Remember, all mini blu-rays have time indexes that cannot be altered. And we went at it long enough to cover the murder." Holly nods, still disgusted. "Get the fuck out. Oh and bring me…the Phoenix."

Damon remembered her as 1 of the D.J.'s from last night. Her whistled at her, only to get a scowl from her in return. "Do I look like a piece of pussy here for your beck and call, dick?"

"Nope. I took care of that while you Saskatooned Aaron's ass."

Holly shouted, "STOP THE FIGHTING, NOW!"

Phoenix (still feeling defensive), entered the interrogation room. She turned the chair backwards, yet looked around the whole room, struggling to concentrate.

"I guess Aaron must have reviewed, what, 600 bands on myspace? Counting at least 1 of yours."

"That sounds about right."

"And then he just stopped. How many of you hold a grudge?"

"Up until 3 hours before Aaron died, roughly 1000 people."

"What changed?"

"I hacked into Aaron's deactivated Myspace page and it took me to messages he thought he deleted. They were the 'private' attacks of Yfe family members Amanda Anastasio and Amy Smith. They nearly drove him to suicide, but instead he just stopped reviewing ANY of us, let his page drift until he finally deactivated it. I forwarded every message to every non-yfe band he ever reviewed. I have not only the 1000 people who were mad ALL saying they now understood, but about 2000 others who were not mad, also understand. Feel free to check my laptop."

Holly put her head in her palms, "As a member of the yfe family myself, especially 1 who is close to the 2 you mentioned. I cannot accept that."

Phoenix laughed, "To each their own, but I unfriended that Amanda bitch the moment I heard about the Christmas card she sent Aaron back in 2012."

Holly recalled a message Lindsay sent her on facebook shortly after that card arrived, "Ok, even I see your point. She DID hospitalize him. But I do not accept your innocence in this matter. Even if each person who hated Aaron because of Myspace sent you $5 Canadian, it would still be enough for…oh, your new D.J. equipment."

Phoenix laughed again, "So obviously you have not asked the Janitor about the dining room last night. I went back downstairs to collect Jason's and my D.J. equipment (by the way, never pick scissors against him in Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock). I got to the dining room, relieved that Salad King had gone on home with their stuff, leaving me with a clear path from the equipment to the door. It is funny that you are a yfeniverser as I saw 2 of your brethren helping the aforementioned janitor sweeping and whatnot. The California chick wearing the Nightmare before Christmas vest and the German kid."

Holly looked up at the ceiling, remembering which 2 Phoenix was talking about, "Ahh, Tamara and Marcel. Yeah, it is funny that 2 of the group that you hate is your alibi."

Phoenix raised her left index finger, "I do not hate yfe, and actually I am quite fond of you guys. But Aaron is close to me, and some of you HAVE wronged him in the past due to how manipulative some of you can be."

Holly nodded, conceding the argument. "Looks like I have Aaron's friends AND some cleaning staff to cross-reference your story. Ok Phoenix, you can go. Get me Julie."

Phoenix nodded, and as she stepped out of the room, she took out her phone, going through pictures of the entire guest list. She found Julie with little effort, "Julie, Holly wants you next." Julie stood up, and for once, neither one exchanged words. But Phoenix did sit as far away from Damon as possible, just in case. Julie quietly took a seat to be grilled by Holly.

"I know you are in a compromised medical condition, so I will try to make this quick. Then again, you need money to survive it for a more years."

Julie sighed, "Right. Last I was told, the surgery to fix it would either kill me or make me blind AND paralyzed."

Holly nodded, "So how much can a sick woman kill a rich man for?"

Julie burst into tears, "Nothing. Aaron was a tortured saint and while I do need the money, I would prefer to get it from him in a nicer manner."

Holly, half buying it asked from another angle, "So where were you?"

Julie cleared her throat, "Megan and I have become very close since Aaron first tried to get The Cult Of Aaron and Yfe to co-exist peacefully. It was no accident that Aaron and Ida arranged for us to travel together. And it was not because of Geography either. Anyways, we decided to check out the hotel's laundry service when we ran into a friend of Aaron's on wheels."

Holly remembered the dinner party, how Ida was almost run over. "You ran into Corrine?"

Julie nodded, "Yes, quite the chatterbox too. She flagged us down and asked us to compare her sketches she made for something she called 'Oil City Wear'. By the time we were done talking, we overheard 2 of the staff freaking out over 1 of the guests being murdered. We did not even know it was Aaron until you guys announced it."

Holly acted as if she accepted it, "Ok Julie. That will be all for now. Get me that travel buddy of mine."

"Harley?"

"Exactly."

Julie looked around the room only momentarily as a young wrestler on crutches was easy to find. "Mr. Truesdale…I mean Pakula."

Harley hobbled to stand up and grab his crutches. While "walking" to the interrogation room he paused by Julie with a smirk befitting a heel, "You Yfe-people are so fucking guilty it is not even worth investigating."

Julie tilted her head sideways, "So speaks the evil of the cult of Aaron."

Holly shifted to a rare deadpan snarker, "A cripple and a cancer patient bickering, oh joy. Harley, hobble your ass in here."

Harley shut the door for Holly, "I think it would be best if I put me up on the desk."

Holly pondered, "Granted. Frankly I think you and I have seen too much of each other as it is."

Harley, "Forgive me, part of what you find offensive is advice from my boss to live my Gimmick."

Holly, "I had no idea that murder was part of a wrestler's character these days. Is Wwe in a second attitude era or something?

Harley, "Or something. I am sure by now you know that I was pitching that Karl lets me have 1 of his tunes. It could make him a small fortune, just might save him if his label goes…'down under'"

Holly shook her head, "Karl was Aaron L.'s project, not mine."

Harley tipped a non-existent hat," Well, I was only planning for my conversation to last a few minutes but…a third party swung by. I forget her name (stupid painkillers) but she had a cane and looked like she just had a fresh dye job to reddish-purple."

Holly goes through the guest list in her memory, "That narrows it down to Kate Pelisek."

Harley tapped his nose, charades style, "I feel sorry for Karl. Having to jump between talking about his music and talking about renewing vows with his wife. But it took so long that any of us 3 murdering Aaron is impossible."

Holly motioned for him to leave; Harley was almost out when she asked "Please get me, Fabio."

"The well-dressed Italian guy?"

"That would be him."

Harley crutched his way over to Fabio, and then turned to Karl, "Sorry bro, but I am doing this for everyone"

Karl nodded in understanding as he handed Fabio a business card, "In case you want Gaia to Awaken in a wrestling ring. Oh by the way, Holly says you are up next."

Fabio kissed his wife Chiara on the forehead. Then strolled into the interrogation room. Holly actually had a look of disgust on her face as he walked in. Her words soon explained why: "You know something? I am all for protecting our environment. I even post on behalf of PETA'S protest to stop the clubbing of seals in Canada. But to go around showing pictures of Serbian radioactive fallout will do your cause more harm than good. A picture may speak a thousand words, but guilt-tripping speaks at least that amount against it. Oh yes, Mr. Ammuri. I am WELL aware of your's and Chiara's extremist views about nature and I can tell you that if you got anywhere close to Aaron with those pictures, his tongue-lashing against you would only be surpassed by the speed in which he did not give you money to your cause.

Fabio was (oddly enough) not shocked by those words. "We never got close enough to Aaron for a long enough period of time to even start that sales pitch…"

Holly retorted quickly, "So you shot up to his room instead?"

Fabio, "Never went to his floor. While my wife was playing cards with the jersey girl and miss enemy, I was entertaining a Dutch girl and a Russian girl on the other side of the room playing…ironically…Cluedo."

Holly scratched her head, Fabio picked up on it: "Right, you North Americans call it Clue with Mustard and Plum and what not."

Holly nodded, and then resumed talking: "So you played clue with Agnes and Catherine?"

Fabio nods, "Clever little girls, those 2. Normally 3-player games go 15 minutes. We only played 3 games and they went over 4 hours. None of us took a break either."

Holly sighed again, "Well, cross-referencing with 2 in the yfe camp should be easy. You are free to go for now. In fact I think I will take Agnes now and get it over with."

Fabio remembered Agnes quite vividly as he pointed at her. She was in tears (a mixture of legitimate grief and coming down from the drugs on the plane) as she walked pass him. "Just tell her the truth and you will be fine." whispered Fabio to Agnes. Agnes walked in, drying her eyes with an old handkerchief.

Holly was not having any of it. "You may be yfe like me, but you are 1 of the sickest human beings I have ever met. Now I am not passing judgment as to what goes on in the Red Light District of your home town of Amsterdam, No matter how close to Sodom and Gomorrah it gets. But to charge money to fuck a married couple or failing that, extort them? So do we have soliciting, extortion AND murder?"

Agnes burst into tears, "You do not have any of the 3. Once I sobered up, I remembered that Aaron has a tendency to put people in jail who try to cross him or his wife due to how disillusioned he is with people. I even called it off with Solveig as soon as we got upstairs and she agreed. I needed something to do to relax as my heart was pounding from the hash I took. On my way to get ice for an Ice bath I ran into Catherine. She had just been invited to Fabio's room to play clue. I figured a board game would do the trick so I went with her. When we got to Fabio's room on the 11th floor, I asked to tag along and he nodded because his wife, Jess and Isabel preferred cards so he needed a 3rd for Clue anyway. And wow those games were long."

Holly felt a need to test her, "4 games in 3 hours?"

Agnes shook her head, "No, 3 games in 4 hours."

Holly nodded, "Ok, just making sure. Well why not get me Solveig, as I have a feeling the rabbit hole of this is going to get deeper before we get close to finding the killer."

Agnes slowly stood up, walked out of the room and nodded at Solveig. Solveig nodded in return and walked into the Interrogation room. Solveig had a slight tremor on her right side that Holly noticed easily based on Agnes's story.

"The crash from hash is a bitch, is it not?"

"Yeah it is, but I would rather crash now than have a panic attack on the plane. Not a fan of flying."

"So you agreed if it meant getting money out of Aaron? How big are your student loans?"

"Bigger than even most North American students, I assure you. But as the hash wore off I had a conversation with Agnes, and we called the whole thing off. Seeking a way to keep my brain occupied, I went downstairs with the Vancouver chap to give some private lessons in my native Norwegian. In the elevator going down, we ran into that giant from New York. And after a few moments of convincing, she decided to come with us. I liked the idea of teaching someone with Autism and someone with bipolar disorder simultaneously."

"So, you were on the ground floor with…Allan and Victoria?"

"Yes, and due to how complicated things got in my lesson plan, we were down here for at least 5 hours. And I owe Victoria $50 for even getting us in that room for some privacy."

"I am sure Victoria will not forget, anyways, I think I have all I need. You may go."

Solveig and Holly left the interrogation room together. Solveig returned to her previous seat while Holly went to Ida and the still in pain Lindsay. "I will stay with Aaron's mom while you do your first batch of interrogations."

Ida nodded and said, "Thank you."

Isabel raised her hand and asked, "Hey is it ok if we take a bathroom break? I am sure I am not the only one who needs to sit on the toilet. Hell, when nervous my bladder is smaller than Alex's."

The yfe contingent started laughing as Alex's nervous bladder before a show was legendary amongst the fan community. Ida announces, "Very well, everyone goes together, and RESPECT gender divisions please?" Everyone nodded as they entered the main floor bathrooms. Leaving the 3 detectives and Lindsay in the foyer alone. Lindsay broke the silence, "Ida, do you have your first batch of suspects and questions ready?"

Ida nodded, while fighting back tears. "Yes Lindsay, I even had Holly and Aaron edit my work due to my dyslexia. I will be fine for my round of…"

Just then the power went out across the entire ground floor. "Jesus, what the fuck is wrong now?" asked Aaron Langemann. Then several male voices were screaming in the bathroom. Aaron looked at the 3 girls beside him and ordered, "Holly, Ida and Lindsay, stay here. I will check it out." Aaron hopped over a couch and opened the men's room door. Only to see Fabio Ammuri and Harley Pakula decapitated their heads at least 6 feet apart from the rest of their bodies. "Everyone back to the foyer, NOW!" Then Aaron ran to the Women's room and yelled that order again. He then headed to the customer desk while announcing to Ida, Holly and Lindsay, "Someone just cut Fabio's and Harley's heads off." He reached the service desk, "Guys, we need to seal off the men's room, I got 2 more murder victims in there." Half of the staff ran off with caution tape and appropriate tools when suddenly a loud metallic "CLANG" came out of the room keeping the safety deposit boxes. Aaron and day shift manager went to investigate; they saw that 3 boxes in different parts of the room had been completely ransacked. Suddenly, the power was restored. The day shift manager spoke to Aaron, "I am going to print the manifest to see what was taken, maybe that will help you guys out." Aaron nodded and dismissed him. He walked back to the foyer to take an account of everyone, everyone was there, and no one was short of breath.

"So our now multiple murderer is in great shape."

"That is not all we know." replied a returning day shift manager

"Really? What did you find out?"

"Two things: First that your killer knew that those 3 safety deposit boxes contained the most prized items in our hotel right now, 1 had about $2 million in jewels, the other 2 had negotiable bearer bonds that may be completely priceless. Which leads to #2: That your killer is VERY tech-savvy, they knew that hacking the manifest was low-priority, while our power system is much more encrypted. In fact, even if the power is successfully cut by computer, it is automatically restored after 90 seconds."

The entourage was shocked, especially Ida. But she knew to press on if they were going to find the killer. "Isabel, you are first on my list."

"Anything I can do to help, sister."


End file.
